


Nightmares and Comfort

by FanGirlofManyThings



Series: Voltron Snuggles [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Comfort, Cuddling, F/M, Nightmares, platonic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-15
Updated: 2016-11-15
Packaged: 2018-08-31 06:36:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8567986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanGirlofManyThings/pseuds/FanGirlofManyThings
Summary: Shiro has nightmares and Pidge is always there to help him. Tonight's nightmare is worse than usual.





	

A scream ripped through the quiet of the night. Pidge pushed back from her desk, grabbed the blanket off her bed and hurried out of her room. 

She rushed down the hallway, blanket trailing loosely behind her. She skidded to a stop outside of Shiro’s door. She paused for a moment to gather herself. 

“Shiro?” She lightly knocked on the door. “It’s Pidge. Can I come in?” 

Beyond the door was silence, no sobs, no more shouts, and no shuffling of sheets. It was too quiet. Shiro’s nightmares had been a fixture of the nights since the five of them had arrived. At first, Pidge had tried to ignore the screams and give Shiro space to deal with them by himself. She had figured he wouldn’t want anyone bothering him and probably didn’t even know anyone was aware of his nightly terrors. After over a month of screams piercing the night Pidge found herself knocking on his door, begging him to let her help him.

Most nights, when the nightmares weren’t too bad, Shiro would open the door for her. Those nights they did nothing but talk until one or both of them was practically falling over with sleep. Other nights, nights when Shiro’s worst fears plagued him, he tried to feign sleep so Pidge would go away. She knew there were the nights where he felt less than human and unworthy of comfort. Those were the nights she tried her hardest to show him what he meant to the team.

Pidge knew Shiro wasn’t coming to the door tonight. She wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and sat down with her back against the door. The cold of the metal seeped through the blanket. Maybe he would come to the door, maybe he wouldn’t. But Pidge wasn’t about to leave him all alone.

She raised her voice just enough to be heard through the door but not so much as to wake the others. 

“Shiro. I’m here. You’re not alone.” She reminded him. “I’m right outside the door and I’m not going anywhere.” 

She lapsed into silence, listening to see if he would come let her in. She was relatively sure he wouldn’t, not so soon. The whirs and clicks of the Castle Ship filled the air around her as she sat patiently waiting. She listened to the white noise of the castle as the minutes ticked by. It hadn’t taken her long to learn that on nights like these it was best to give Shiro space. No amount of force was going to make Shiro let her in until he was good and ready.

“Shiro remember you’re never alone. We’re a team. We’re here for each other. We’re a family. Nobody has to face anything all by themselves. Please let me help you.” Notes of pleading worked their way into her voice at the end. She lapsed back into silence and pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. As the minutes passed by Pidge slowly started hearing more noise beyond the door. At first it was just the soft sounds of blankets scratching over sheets. Then she heard the bed creak and assumed Shiro had abandoned his attempts to sleep. There was a long pause in which she heard nothing but then the sound of soft footsteps padding across the metal decking reached her ears. The footsteps came to a halt just outside the door and then Pidge felt weight settle against the other side of the door.

“Pidge?” Shiro’s voice sounded a little strangled. 

“I haven’t gone anywhere,” She told him gently. Shiro let out a relived sigh, as though he believed this was the time she would leave him to his terrors and demons. They sat like that, a comfortable silence stretching between them.

“I…I… had that dream again. The one where I can’t control my arm.” Pidge heard the thunk of metal on metal. She could practically see him, face screwed up in disgust with himself, as he slammed his metal hand into the floor.

Softly Pidge reminded him of the same thing she did every night, “You’re not a monster, Shiro. You’re just as human as the rest of us.”

Shiro let out a short sarcastic laugh, “You can’t know that Pidge. We have no idea what this thing attached to me can do. I can’t remember much about what happened. For all we know this thing could be bugged or rigged to turn me into a mindless killing machine.”

“But that hasn’t happened yet. And it’s not going to happen. I’m learning more about Galra tech every day. Every scan I’ve done of your arm had turned up nothing but arm related code and the code for the blade. You have complete control over your arm.” Pidge was aware that Shiro knew all of this already but she was also aware that sometimes it was soothing to hear something you already knew.

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe you’re not,” Was Shiro’s reply. 

“Well whatever happens everyone on the ship is here for you. Never forget that Shiro. You don’t always need to be the strong one. Let us help you.” 

Silence met Pidge’s words. Then she heard a long sigh and then a sob. “I don’t deserve help.”

Pidge whipped around, sat up on her knees and pressed her hand against the door, trying to will her sincerity through the metal plane separating them. “Never say that again. You are more than worthy. You hold us all together when things get tough. You are so important to all of us…to me. Please know that we all care about you and want to help you.” Her words felt woefully inadequate for expressing what Shiro meant to the paladins. She was met with silence once more, then the door slid open to reveal Shrio bathed in the light from the hallway. His shirt and shorts were creased and wrinkled and eyes were ringed with red. Pidge almost started crying with how defeated her usually strong leader looked. He wouldn’t meet her eyes and his left hand was clutching at the elbow of his other arm, his normally steady shoulders, drooped. Pidge stepped into the room slowly, giving him time to tell her he didn’t want her there. He made no such comment. The door slid shut, abruptly plunging them into darkness. 

Pidge counted to three before she felt Shiro’s strong arms envelop her. Releasing the blanket she wrapped her arms around his waist.

“You’re important. You’re loved. You’re human.” She whispered these words over and over again. She could feel his tears soaking the shoulder of her shirt. She rubbed slow circles on his back. They stood like that for a while, Pidge reminding Shiro of everything he was and Shiro crying into her shoulder. Slowly his tears stopped falling and he loosened his grip on Pidge. She stepped back from him, trying to make out his face in the darkness. The blanket fell from her shoulders and pooled at their feet.

“Come on,” She said as she tugged him in the direction of the bed. Shiro followed her lead, settling down on the bed and letting his legs hang off the side of the bed. Pidge sat so that the side of her body was pressed into his side. She gently nudge him with her elbow and when he looked at her, she gave him a small smile.

He returned it, “Thank you for being here for me Pidge.”

“You’d do the same for any of us.” She said with a shrug and a stifled yawn. Silence fell between them; Pidge watched her feet disappear and reappear as she swung them under the bed.

“I don’t want to be alone tonight,” Shiro whispered. 

“I’m not gonna go anywhere,” Pidge told him.

“You need to sleep, Pidge,” He told her pointedly as Pidge yawned again.

“So do you,” She countered with a pointed look. 

Shiro heaved a well-worn sigh, “Just stay here tonight. Neither of us are gonna be able to fall asleep alone and we both know that as soon as you leave you’re just going to go back to your computer and I’m going to go back to hating myself.”

“Alright but no hating yourself,” She said crawling farther onto the bed, so she could press her back up against the wall.

“Fine but you actually have to get some sleep,” He pulled the blanket over both of them and laid on the outside of the bed, facing the door. As soon as he was settled Pidge slid closer to him and wrapped an arm around his middle. She settled snuggly against his back and pulled her legs in line with his. A smiled crept on to his face as he felt her nuzzle into his shoulder.

“Good night, Shiro.”

“Good night, Pidge.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm open to suggestions for scenarios/paladins! follow me on tumblr: fangirlofmanythings


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